Apple chip designers leaving to form startup

Last month, the iPad became the first device to feature Apple's A4, a new applications processor designed in-house at the company by former PA Semiconductor staffers. According to a story by the New York Times, however, Apple may have already lost some of the talent that came up with the chip:

Some of the chip engineers Apple gained in its purchase of PA Semi appear to have already left the company. According to partial records on the job networking site LinkedIn, at least half a dozen former PA Semi engineers have left Apple and turned up at a start-up called Agnilux, based in San Jose. The company was co-founded by one of PA’s leading system architects, Mark Hayter.

EETimes writes in a separate story that Agnilux's founder is none other than PA Semi co-founder Amarjit Gill. At PA Semi, Gill reportedly took care of sales and business development.

The site adds that Agnilux has ties with Cisco and is working on a server processor. Perhaps that processor will have multiple ARM cores and target power-efficient servers. In the iPad, the A4's low power draw purportedly enables up to 10 hours of battery life despite the device's half-inch profile and 9.7" backlit display.